Episode 265 - Not Yours with David Platt

We had over 5,000 entrepreneurs gather in more than 300 cities around the world for Faith Driven Entrepreneur Live.

It was an incredible event filled with talks and stories that helped us understand what it means to surrender our businesses over to God.

One impactful talk came from David Platt, and it was just too good not to share with others. So sit back, take it in, and send it to another entrepreneur who might benefit from it.

All opinions expressed on this podcast, including the team and guests, are solely their opinions. Host and guests may maintain positions in the companies and securities discussed. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as specific advice for any individual or organization.

Episode Transcript

Transcription is done by an AI software. While technology is an incredible tool to automate this process, there will be misspellings and typos that might accompany it. Please keep that in mind as you work through it.

Rusty Rueff: Hey there. And welcome back to the Faith Driven Entrepreneur podcast. Last week we had over 5000 entrepreneurs gather in more than 300 cities around the world for faith driven entrepreneur live. It was incredible. It was filled with talks and stories that helped us understand what it means to surrender our businesses over to God. One impactful moment in a talk that came from David Platt. Well, it was just too good not to share with others. So sit back, take it in and send it to another entrepreneur who might benefit from it. And if you're looking for more empowering messages from David and other pastors, watch and share the Dear Entrepreneur video that's linked in the show notes. David, take it away.

David Platt: As a pastor, I have struggled with how to provide entrepreneurs with the guidance you need as you pursue God and his good plans for your life amidst the pull of an American dream. That's because so often I see confusion set in when this worldly pursuit of success and prosperity takes precedence over God's true desire for us and good design for us. God calls us to radical obedience to a full surrender of our lives to Him. But if we're not careful, at least in my country, we can let an American dream consume our lives. And even more dangerous, we can let an American gospel hijack our hearts. You see, this world tells us to prioritize comfort and to get comfort by collecting and consuming. And if we're not careful, we can create a customized Christian version of this dream. We can call ourselves Christians or go to church while we live and lead in business. Like most everybody else around us focused on the things of this world the nice house, cars, money, college funds for our kids, a comfortable retirement to come. And I'm not saying any of those things are bad in and of themselves. But do we realize how so much stuff in this world can keep us from truly following the one who said, What is it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul and do not love the world or the things in the world? You see, the gospel actually turns our world upside down in a way that we live really different. Instead of an American gospel that's focused on ourselves and this world. The Biblical gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and live for a totally other world in a way that affects not just our lives, but the lives of those we lead. I think about the gospel that's being passed down to the next generation, including the kids in my home and yours. We tell our kids to study, to practice sports, to learn instruments, and we're overseeing hours upon hours of their days in front of screens. We prioritize taking them all over the place for all kinds of activities, telling them you need a good education so you can get a good job and have a good degree and make good money and have a good family with a good retirement. And those are unworthy concerns. But in the middle of it all, we need to ask a more significant question How are we training the next generation to know God, to love his Word more than this world, and to lay down their lives in this world for the glory of God? This is the great commandment, right? Are we teaching our kids to love God wholeheartedly and to love others selflessly? And are we showing them what that looks like in action? Which leads to the Great Commission. Jesus's clear command for all of us in this world. Are we showing the next generation what a life looks like that is abandoned to making disciples of all nations because this is what it means to follow Jesus according to the Bible. And unfortunately, it's totally different from the vision of Christianity that's being cast in our country. Bottom line is God, the all consuming passion of your life and his his glory in the world, the greatest ambition of your life. Because this is Christianity. This is the biblical gospel. God loves you so much that He has sent his son to die on a cross for you so that you can have new, full, abundant life through faith in him. Faith. Trust with all that you are and all that you have. Which means entrepreneur that is a follower of Jesus. It's his business, not yours. It's his reputation that drives you, not yours. It's his mission that consumes you, not yours. From the moment you wake up in the morning, it's him you want. In the moments when things are going sideways, it's him to whom you turn in the highs. It's him you praise in the lows. It's him you trust. If we're going to ever tell the world how significant a relationship with God truly is, that message will only ring true when it comes from a place where we're experiencing it for ourselves that are put from a place where we're experiencing him for ourselves. Otherwise we're just going to give the world a false gospel that consists of an American dream with Jesus tacked on the side. As entrepreneurs, you have a special calling from God to create businesses that shape culture, that provide meaningful, dignifying work, that creates solutions to some of the most pressing questions of our world today. But let us not forget that all of these things are ultimately part of the grand purpose of your life, and that is to enjoy and exalt God in all of His glory among all of the nations. Which means it is right for you to praise God for the gifts He's given you, like your freedom, your business growth, your home, the education of your kids, and on and on. These are gifts that are good and important, and we want to steward them well. But that's just it. To what end? To the end that we know and love God with all we have. And we love others in such a way that they come to know the love of God for them. It's time for us as the people of God, to recalibrate our priorities and realize our ultimate purpose. At this point. I'm now 45. I'm the father of six kids, four of whom are adopted. I've run an organization with 5000 employees, which operates in over 100 different countries. I've had to navigate through organizational and leadership challenges. By God's grace, I've written some books that have done pretty well. I've led a church in the heart of Washington, D.C., amidst some of the deepest political and cultural tensions of the United States, including contentious elections and pandemic era divisions and conversations on racial injustice. I've been through some pretty intense and difficult seasons, and particularly in the last few years, and in all of the above, I have discovered one thing that God is the goal not organizational health, not being on a bestseller list and not my comfort, my reputation, or even the fulfillment of my plans. No, God is the goal. He's the one I need. He's the one I want. And when he is leading my life, he takes it in directions I never would or could according to his wisdom and not the wisdom of this world. That's why I wrote a book recently entitled Don't Hold Back, because ten years after writing a book called Radical, I realized that I am still tempted every day to hold back from Surrender to God and all of that he has for my life, I'm convinced we are holding back in significant ways today as followers of Jesus from who He is and all he's calling us to and what he's calling us to is so much better than anything an American dream or American gospel could ever give us. And this is where I want to encourage you as an entrepreneur, at the heart of that dream, surrounded by that gospel, that gospel that says believe in yourself, trust yourself, advance yourself and see what all you can accomplish. And I want to urge you, don't do it. Instead, do what Jesus says every follower of his will do. Die to yourself and trust in him, advance him and see what he can and will accomplish in and through your life, with your gifts, with your resources, and with dreams that can only come from him. And don't do this alone. Do this as part of a local church and alongside other like minded entrepreneurs. In the words of Hebrews ten, let's consider how to stir one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. It's Hebrews 10:23 through 25 and it leads to my closing encouragement for you as you grow your business, care for your employees, serve your customers, improve your bottom line, make sure at the bottom of it all that God is the goal in your life and in others. Lives lead in such a way that you reflect the love of God and lead others to see and know Him right around you and to the ends of the earth. It's another topic for another day. But you have opportunities literally to change a world in which over 3 billion people right now have little to no knowledge of God's love in Jesus. If only you'll live with Him as the goal. Captivated by the Biblical Gospel, the revolutionary call to die to yourself and to live the life your Creator has designed you to live, and not just to flourish now in this world, but to flourish forever in the world to come and to bring as many people to that world with you as possible. This is the dream that you are made for.

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